Rock comes home: Cleveland hosted its first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1997

Updated April 6, 2015 at 3:32 PM;Posted April 6, 2015 at 3:29 PM

1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions

Michael Jackson, center, joins Motown Records mogul Berry Gordy, second from left, and Jackson's brothers, from left, Marlon, Tito, Jackie (front) and Jermaine, as the Jackson 5 are in inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Tuesday, May 6, 1997, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
(Associated Press)

The first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony held in Cleveland started out last night short on music and long on rambling speeches, but ended up with an all-star jam into the early morning hours today.

There were barely 30 minutes of music during the first three hours of the event, which brought the biggest names in popular music to mingle with a crowd of local dignitaries in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel.

But just after midnight, the (Young) Rascals, who had been in legal feuds for years, put aside their differences and kicked off the jam with a strong medley that included "Good Lovin," "Groovin," and "How Can I Be Sure."

James Taylor followed with a solo acoustic version of inductee Joni Mitchell's anthemic "Woodstock," a 1970 hit for Crosby, Stills and Nash. He was followed by CSN, which offered up "Teach Your Children." The set ended at 1 a.m. with rocker Tom Petty and members of Buffalo Springfield joining CSN in "For What It's Worth."

The inductees were a diverse group, representing the broad definition of what has become known as rock 'n' roll - the Bee Gees, the (Young) Rascals, Mitchell, Parliament-Funkadelic, Buffalo Springfield, the Jackson5 and CSN.

One of the highlights was an onstage reunion of the Jackson5, who were inducted by Motown labelmate Diana Ross. All five Jackson brothers - Tito, Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael - spoke, but didn't sing.

The speech was a vamp on the Jackson5's 1970 hit "I'll Be There" - a "We're-Here-Because-You-Were-There" homage to their mother and father and supporters such as Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Diana Ross.

MichaelJackson invited Gordy on stage. "Their cultural impact was just incredible," Gordy told the crowd. "They not only had hit records, they were a cultural revolution. For the first time, young black kids had their own heroes in their own image to idolize and emulate."

"This is the greatest honor ever," Jermaine told reporters later. "The Grammys and all those other award shows; this is what we wanted."

All the brothers said it was great the ceremony was in Cleveland. "Hollywood already has everything," Tito said.

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash provided some of the most touching acceptance speeches. Crosby, on the verge of death before a liver transplant in 1994, was visibly moved. "I am honored to be here tonight. For a guy who was supposed to be dead a couple of years ago, I am doing quite well. Music is magic. Music bridges the gaps between human beings."

The Bee Gees, ridiculed for years for their association with the 1970s disco era, provided one of the few musical highlights before the jam - bringing the crowd to its feet with a tight, rockin' medley of their greatest hits - from early cuts such as "Massachusetts" and "Words" to disco hits such as "Stayin' Alive" and "Jive Talkin'."

"We're the enigma with the stigma," said Barry Gibb of his group's association with disco. "But we feel like we've come home tonight."

Raphael Saddiq of the R&B group Tony! Toni! Tone! agreed, presenting Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb as great songwriters and performers who remain "hip, current and fresh." He was then joined by reclusive Beach Boy mastermind Brian Wilson for a touching, if slightly rough version of the Bee Gees' "Too Much Heaven."

"It's been four decades of making records, but this is what tells you that you've been accepted. It's sort of like you've found a home," Barry Gibb said afterward.

Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers kept the music moving with a swinging, gospel medley in honor of Mahalia Jackson, who was inducted as an early influence on rock.

George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic were the first artists of the night to be inducted, opening the show with a laid-back seven-minute medley of their greatest hits, including "Give Up the Funk" and "Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow."

Clinton was dressed conservatively by P-Funk standards, decked out in black tails, white shoes and a wild headdress that barely controlled his tangle of multicolored, braided hair.

After a brief video tribute, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince (accompanied by his wife Mayte) presented the award to Clinton, calling him "the father of this funk mothership" and a man responsible for "creating the future of music."

Family members of the late Eddie Hazel and Tiki Fulwood accepted their awards.

After being inducted, Clinton came into an adjacent pressroom eating ice cream and started chanting "Mothership Connection."

Did the induction mean the mothership has landed? "We parked for a minute," Clinton said. "We have to go to the bathroom and then we're gonna go around and do it till the next millenium."

Up next were the (Young) Rascals' Felix Cavaliere, Dino Danelli, Gene Cornish and Eddie Brigati. They were inducted by fellow New Jersey homeboy Steve Van Zandt, who delivered his tribute by doing his best impression of an Italian-American standup comic.

He was only half-joking when he called the group the first rock band in the world. "There were some guys making noise over in England in the 1960s," he said. "But in the real world, in the center of the universe in New Jersey, the Rascals were the first band ... 'You Better Run,' 'Good Lovin,' 'Girl Like You,' 'People Got To Be Free.' To be white and get a sound that black you had to be Italian.'

"The reason we are here is because we love each other," Gene Cornish told reporters later.

Joni Mitchell and Neil Young were the most prominent no-shows. Mitchell cited personal pressures associated with her reunion with a daughter she had given up for adoption 30 years ago.

Young, who was inducted as a member of Buffalo Springfield, boycotted the performance because of a dispute with the rock hall over its refusal to provide him with enough free tickets to bring his family to the $1,500-a-plate dinner.

In a letter to the rock hall, VH1, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun and his Buffalo Springfield bandmates, Young also said he was upset with the rock hall's decision to sell broadcast rights to VH1, feeling that featuring the ceremony on TV commercialized and cheapened it.

"The VH1 Hall of Fame presentation has nothing to do with the spirit of rock 'n' roll," wrote Young. "It has everything to do with making money. Inductees are severely limited in the amount of guests they can bring. They are forced to be on a TV show, for which they are not paid." The show will be aired on VH1 Friday and Saturday.

Young's Buffalo Springfield bandmates Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer, Dewey Martin and Stephen Stills accepted the award, which was presented by Tom Petty. Buffalo Springfield, Petty said, "were bronze and brunette, they were fringe and paisley, ... they were ominous and a country morning ... they were immeasurably influential."

Richie Furay later told reporters "For me, this isn't about Neil Young. It's about Buffalo Springfield and what's being bestowed upon us as a group."

Stills was the first person to be inducted twice in the same night, for CS&N and Buffalo Springfield. "If I had to come in a rowboat and stand outside, I would have," he said.

Nash accepted the award for Mitchell, saying she couldn't be there because she wanted to spend time with her daughter. Singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin offered up a nice solo acoustic performance of "Free Man in Paris," a song from Mitchell's 1974 "Court and Spark" album, then launched into a rambling induction speech that soon lost the interest of the crowd.

The late Bill Monroe, the bluegrass pioneer, was also inducted as an early influence by Emmylou Harris and Ricky Skaggs. "He represents what rock and roll strives for - the power and the arrogance, the heart and soul, he put everything into it," Harris told reporters after the induction.

Skaggs gave one of the most compelling induction speeches of the evening, breaking into tears on several occasions. He described Monroe, who died last September, as "a musical father to me ... he just kept creating and finding new places to go because he knew the people wanted to have the roots of American music."

Syd Nathan, founder of King Records in Cincinnati, was inducted in the nonperformer category.

Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner gave a nod to Cleveland in his opening remarks, paraphrasing President John F. Kennedy's famous speech at the Berlin Wall by opening his speech with a campy "Ich bin ein Clevelander!"